Rosenthal: Tanaka to Yankees

[Soxfest]

cubs made first offer

 

@mlbbrucelevine Wake up tweeters! Cubs made Tanaka a real offer to be there ace and grow with their other talented young players.

Bruce's Cub bias alive and well.

[Dick Allen]

Wow. Who cares?

The fact is Tanaka is regarded as a great pitcher by people who get paid a lot of money determining these things. Acquiring him helps the White Sox win, and the bonus is it may sting the Cubs a lot. And since a lot have jumped off their bandwagon, and they could be leaving WGN, it is no guarantee all their games will be seen by everyone after this year by just paying for basic cable. It is an opportunity to pounce on the people looking for a winner to cheer for.

 

If you are a White Sox fan, you should care. Although in the end, I think it is one reason the Cubs might throw crazy money at him. Enough where even if he thought the White Sox situation was better, it would be next to impossible to say no.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Cubs shouldn't worry about that ace offer too much though. If Tanaka signs elsewhere the Cubs can trade Samardzija and make Bronson Arroyo a "real offer to be there ace and grow and play and be happy with their other talented young players."

[Balta1701]

The fact is Tanaka is regarded as a great pitcher by people who get paid a lot of money determining these things. Acquiring him helps the White Sox win, and the bonus is it may sting the Cubs a lot. And since a lot have jumped off their bandwagon, and they could be leaving WGN, it is no guarantee all their games will be seen by everyone after this year by just paying for basic cable. It is an opportunity to pounce on the people looking for a winner to cheer for.

 

If you are a White Sox fan, you should care. Although in the end, I think it is one reason the Cubs might throw crazy money at him. Enough where even if he thought the White Sox situation was better, it would be next to impossible to say no.

I care about whether or not he would contribute to the White Sox at a level commensurate with the money spent on him. This is it.

 

You might get me more interested if Detroit was in on him because that team is directly competing with us a whole lot more.

 

It's just as possible that the White Sox could "steal" attention from the Cubs as it is that having the Cubs continue to be bad hurts the Chicago baseball scene as a whole and the White Sox suffer as a consequence. In fact, that's what the ticket sales over the last decade actually are consistent with - when both teams were doing well, ticket sales went up, but when one team has a good season and the other doesn't, neither one sees a ticket sale spike.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Here's a question:

 

Let's say the Sox sign Tanaka (I don't think they will, but just pretend for a second)

 

Let's say John Danks, Bronson Arroyo, Matt Garza are the Free Agents on the market who only cost money and no draft pick, whereas Ubaldo & Ervin Santana cost money and a draft pick. How do you rank those guys?

 

I say this because let's say the Sox need to move Danks' contract to fit Tanaka into their budget. If the Sox win the Tanaka derby and everyone else loses, how good does Danks' contract and years plus no draft pick look compared to the rest of the SP FA market? Maybe the Sox can't get anything much for Danks, but I bet that he looks like a good option compared to the rest, and a Danks dump could be similar to the Rios dump, where we get a serviceable piece but really the move happens to clear up salary for the signing of an international player. Second Swisher deal with Viciedo coming in was more of the same.

[Balta1701]

Here's a question:

 

Let's say the Sox sign Tanaka (I don't think they will, but just pretend for a second)

 

Let's say John Danks, Bronson Arroyo, Matt Garza are the Free Agents on the market who only cost money and no draft pick, whereas Ubaldo & Ervin Santana cost money and a draft pick. How do you rank those guys?

 

I say this because let's say the Sox need to move Danks' contract to fit Tanaka into their budget. If the Sox win the Tanaka derby and everyone else loses, how good does Danks' contract and years plus no draft pick look compared to the rest of the SP FA market? Maybe the Sox can't get anything much for Danks, but I bet that he looks like a good option compared to the rest, and a Danks dump could be similar to the Rios dump, where we get a serviceable piece but really the move happens to clear up salary for the signing of an international player. Second Swisher deal with Viciedo coming in was more of the same.

If you can't sign Tanaka without being forced to dump Danks then that makes it seem really silly to sign Tanaka.

 

Because what happens if you simply can't move Danks?

 

And then of course there's the really solid likelihood that you dump him for nothing and then he drops another 3+ WAR season next year like he did most healthy years of his career.

[Dick Allen]

If you can't sign Tanaka without being forced to dump Danks then that makes it seem really silly to sign Tanaka.

 

Because what happens if you simply can't move Danks?

 

And then of course there's the really solid likelihood that you dump him for nothing and then he drops another 3+ WAR season next year like he did most healthy years of his career.

Enough with the money. If the White Sox sign Tanaka, they can afford him. For the love of God, why do people believe the White Sox when they tell you they break even every year? Then they say they are stretching their limits and increase payroll when attendance drops. Add guys during the season when they can't spend $1 when they only have $.50. Yet people buy it. When they signed Dunn and brought back Paulie and AJ, they asked JR where he was getting the money. You save a little here a little there was his reply.

 

If they sign him to a big contract and pay the $20 million fee maybe, finally, everyone can see the line the team feeds you isn't true. I don't blame them. Fans wouldn't have a problem with the Sox being one of the most profitable teams in baseball if it ended like 2005 more often, but if they found out JR was savings millions upon millions for a rainy day and they play like 2013 there would be even fewer season ticketholders.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Uh, since when?

Uh, since like we've all been paying attention.

 

$20M posting fee and looking at an annual salary approaching if not exceeding $20M per

 

Sox stated that they have some room within their budget... $40M laying around is a little bit more than "some room"

 

Either the Sox have been bulls***ting as Dick Allen is implying or somebody would have to go

[pettie4sox]

Uh, since like we've all been paying attention.

 

$20M posting fee and looking at an annual salary approaching if not exceeding $20M per

 

Sox stated that they have some room within their budget... $40M laying around is a little bit more than "some room"

 

Either the Sox have been bulls***ting as Dick Allen is implying or somebody would have to go

 

It's a simple negotiation tactic. You don't want to tell people you have all the money in the world so that they can attempt to fleece you for more. You say, "Hey, this is my budget and what I am willing to spend. I can't really exceed this."

[The Ultimate Champion]

It's a simple negotiation tactic. You don't want to tell people you have all the money in the world so that they can attempt to fleece you for more. You say, "Hey, this is my budget and what I am willing to spend. I can't really exceed this."

I'm not referring simply to the pursuit of Tanaka, I'm referring to their entire offseason stance since they signed Abreu. Immediately after Abreu was signed Hahn, Kenny, the media, pretty much everything out there said that there weren't going to be any other transactions at Abreu's level or beyond. Tanaka money is going to be huge money - and while I can believe that having him here would open up some new revenue channels & his deal would be in part offset by that, it's still big money that they supposedly didn't have.

 

So either they have it & were bulls***ting, or they don't have it (or refuse to spend beyond a self-imposed limit even if they are capable of doing so) and the money is going to have to come from somewhere else.

[BlackSox13]

It's a simple negotiation tactic. You don't want to tell people you have all the money in the world so that they can attempt to fleece you for more. You say, "Hey, this is my budget and what I am willing to spend. I can't really exceed this."

This and let me add that if you say you have the money and don't spend you run the risk of pissing off your fan base and potentially hurting ticket sales for the upcoming season.

[cabiness42]

If you want an accounting of every dollar a company takes in and spends, then buy stock. Otherwise, it's really none of your f***ing business. The team is going to allocate its resources the best way it sees fit, and if that makes you miserable, then that's your problem and please don't whine about it to me.

[koz8484]

Of course they have the money to sign any particular player who fits into there long term/short term fiscal plan..Whenever you hear those quotes of crying poor, you should just take them as if they were saying we are not going to just stupidly sign every free agent to build or patch up our team with overpriced/aging veterans...It is a classic way of reducing expectations, and laying low so that they can be the underdog...This in my opinion has always been the way J.R has run the White Sox, he is a very shrude but excellent business man who will always try to buy low or find a gem but who will also identify and pay for talent that makes sense for the short/long term..This is why, I've always felt that the WSox are indeed players for Tanaka.

[The Ultimate Champion]

If you want an accounting of every dollar a company takes in and spends, then buy stock. Otherwise, it's really none of your f***ing business. The team is going to allocate its resources the best way it sees fit, and if that makes you miserable, then that's your problem and please don't whine about it to me.

Whoa, retract the panties there darling.

 

Money and payroll is a huge part of discussion around here, always has been.

 

[The Ultimate Champion]

BTW I hope that we can make the Tanaka signing without necessarily *having* to make payroll room reappear from somewhere else. If we could keep Danks that would put us in much better position to trade him for good value later should be come back to near 100%.

 

Also I would wonder if the Sox would take a hit in payroll this year, spend more than they would like to because of the posting fee, but would view Tanaka as a $20M per year payroll hit that feels more like a $12M payroll hit or so because of the added benefits.

[hi8is]

Whoa, retract the panties there darling.

 

Money and payroll is a huge part of discussion around here, always has been.

Menstruated conversation leading to devoid conceptual musings.

[BlackSox13]

If you want an accounting of every dollar a company takes in and spends, then buy stock. Otherwise, it's really none of your f***ing business. The team is going to allocate its resources the best way it sees fit, and if that makes you miserable, then that's your problem and please don't whine about it to me.

Agreed. Don't like it, well the fan has options; they can find a new team to follow, they can abstain from spending their money on tickets merchandise etc or they can simply accept the fact that the team is not their business to run since they are not one of the owners.

 

 

[Leonard Washington]

Uh, since like we've all been paying attention.

 

$20M posting fee and looking at an annual salary approaching if not exceeding $20M per

 

Sox stated that they have some room within their budget... $40M laying around is a little bit more than "some room"

 

Either the Sox have been bulls***ting as Dick Allen is implying or somebody would have to go

It's my understanding that the posting fee is spread out (I believe over two years?) and not paid as a lump sum.

[hi8is]

It's my understanding that the posting fee is spread out (I believe over two years?) and not paid as a lump sum.

Si, quarto payments para dos anyos

[Jose Abreu]

Si, quarto payments para dos anyos

Tu español es terible. "Quarto"? "Añyos"?

[Jose Abreu]

Si, quarto payments para dos anyos

Estoy bromeando. Conozco que quisiste.

Edited January 18, 2014 by Jose Abreu

[knightni]

¡Ay, caramba!

[Baron]

Keep in mind everyone that a deal may be announced in the next few days. He cant wait until the last minute because of travel,paper work and a physical.

[Al Lopez's Ghost]

Hey! English!

[Dick Allen]

Keep in mind everyone that a deal may be announced in the next few days. He cant wait until the last minute because of travel,paper work and a physical.

He took a physical when he was in LA.